Aug. 23, 2013

What appear to be bullet holes are shown near the rear entrance to Fat Tony's. / NEWS-LEADER FILE PHOTO

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A newly released affidavit says Springfield officers witnessed an Aug. 11 gunbattle near Missouri State University that included shots fired at people in a parking lot, several running for cover into a late-night restaurant and return fire from inside the restaurant.

The affidavit filed in support of a search warrant of Fat Tony’s restaurant, at 940 S. National Ave., also says police got no cooperation from the restaurant’s employees or from people who were in the business after the shooting.

Police also note that a witness who initially told police he saw shots come from inside the business recanted when another man shouted at him at the restaurant in front of police.

The police search sought, among other items, evidence of gunfire such as casings and surveillance video.

About 2 a.m. the morning of the disturbance, two officers were stationed in their patrol vehicle at the Break Time convenience store near Fat Tony’s to monitor loitering, the search warrant affidavit says.

The parking lot behind the strip mall where Fat Tony’s is located had been experiencing ongoing problems with vehicles loitering at bar closing time on Saturday nights, the affidavit says. Specifically, the document says a large number of people are loitering on the lot as they come and go from Fat Tony’s, according to a complaint.

Fat Tony’s, across National from the MSU campus and within two blocks of Rountree Elementary school, is open until 3 a.m. on Sunday mornings.

The officers say they could see the south side of the restaurant as well as the rear door on the east side of the building. The officers say they heard shots ring out from the parking lot east of the building and watched several people run inside the business.

“The officers then observed the rear door of ‘Fat Tony’s’ open outward and heard multiple gunshots coming from the doorway and they could see multiple puffs of smoke coming outward from the doorway with each shot,” the affidavit says.

The officers say “numerous subjects” ran out the front door of the building and away from the scene, the document says.

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The affidavit says several people who had been inside Fat Tony’s would not cooperate with the investigation, including a man named Mervin Martin. Police say he told them he was “feeding his people” when he heard shots being fired from the parking lot. It’s unclear from the paperwork if he is an employee.

Martin also told police that when heard shots he ran to the back door, swung it open and screamed for everyone to get inside, according to the affidavit. Several people did run into the business, he said, and after a few seconds the shooting stopped. But Martin said, according to the affidavit, no one fired a gun from inside the business toward where the shots were coming from and that officers were lying.

The manager on duty, Brenston Clark, said he heard shots and saw people run into the business but did not see the shooters or their vehicles, the affidavit says.

Officers also spoke with Bradley Smith, who said he heard shots coming from the rear parking lot. According to the document, Smith at first said people began shooting back from inside the business.

Then, the affidavit says, Martin shouted at Smith, saying he was not telling the truth. After that, Smith’s recollection changed.

“I’m sorry I was confused no one shot from inside the building,” he told police, according to the search document. Smith stuck to his new story even after officers pointed out the discrepancies, the affidavit says.

Police determined that the shots fired toward Fat Tony’s had come from the front yard of 1227 E. Belmont, which is vacant, the affidavit says. Police found numerous shell casings in the grass there and also found numerous bullet holes on the east-side exterior wall and near the rear door of Fat Tony’s.

Owner Tony Fewell previously told the News-Leader he was unhappy with the police’s reporting of the Aug. 11 incident. He complained that police named his business as the site of the shooting, but he believed it happened in a more general location: the Bear’s Mall parking lot used by other businesses as well.

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Efforts Thursday to reach Fewell — including phone calls, email and an in-person visit to the restaurant — to seek his reaction to the information from police in the search warrant affidavit were not successful.

Police spokeswoman Lisa Cox said Thursday police do not have any suspects in the case and have not made any arrests.

Cox said Thursday that the case is not being investigated any differently, despite its proximity to the MSU campus. She said in the past three months, police have received nine different calls for service at 940 S. National Ave., the Bear’s Mall address.

The calls were less serious in nature, including a recovered vehicle, scooter stealing and three general disturbances that were handled by officers, among the other calls.

Another gun incident was reported by witnesses to police in the area on Aug. 14 at the tattoo parlor Irish Synsation, which is in the mall. Cox said that in that case, a gun was pointed inside the business.

No one was injured in the Aug. 11 shooting. Afterward, MSU sent an email alert to students about the incident.

On Thursday, Paul Kincaid, MSU chief of staff, was asked if the university had concerns about the restaurant’s proximity to campus given the shooting disturbance. He said it is not the university’s property or its decision as to who gets to locate there.